The Scoop is the American Libraries blog and covers a wide range of issues related to libraries and librarians, including conference posts about ALA Midwinter Meeting and ALA Annual Conference. The section also provides news, features, Q&As, photos, videos, slide shows, and other coverage of the industry.

American Libraries Associate Editor and Dewey Decibel host Phil Morehart joins the award-selection committees as they make phone calls to the winners the morning before the award announcement event. Morehart then talks to the heads of the Coretta Scott King Book Award and Newbery Medal committees to learn more about the award-selection process. Finally, we … Continue reading Dewey Decibel Podcast Bonus Episode→

A list of all the 2018 award winners follows: John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature: Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly is the 2018 Newbery Medal winner. The book is published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Three Newbery Honor Books also were named: Crown: An Ode to the Fresh … Continue reading 2018 Youth Media Awards Announced→

Michael Blackwell, director of the St. Mary’s County (Md.) Libraries, urged the library community to demand simplicity from content providers and platform developers by putting the user at the heart of the experience and by providing genuine integration of e-content. The e-content field is dynamic, and just as some standards and practices are implemented, new … Continue reading Digital Content Working Group at Annual Conference→

Like the United States and Canada, Australia has struggled with ebook prices that are too high, platforms with unpredictable fees, and licenses that are hostile to libraries, users, and authors alike. Inspired by various examples in the US (the Internet Archive, Douglas County [Colo.] Libraries, Califa Group), the good people at New South Wales established … Continue reading Indyreads: Australia’s New E-Content Platform→

Intended to offer suggestions for anyone, regardless of musical training or experience, who is seeking to develop music collections in libraries of all kinds, A Basic Music Library: Essential Scores and Sound Recordings, Fourth Edition, Volume 2: World Music, published by ALA Editions, remains a benchmark of its kind. Prepared by Music Library Association, volume 2 concentrates on folk and traditional music of North America; traditional and popular music of the Americas and the Caribbean; music of Asia and Oceania; music of Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia; music of sub-Saharan Africa; music of Europe; and international anthologies.

About 20 students at the University of Oregon in Eugene silently protested murals at Knight Library on February 14. Individuals from the group said that the murals were racist, citing lines from one mural, The Mission of a University, which read: “It means conservation and betterment not merely of our national resources but also of our racial heritage and opportunity to the lowliest.” Protesters held signs reading “Take it down or we will” and “Hate is not heritage.”

John Eggerton writes: “Anchor institutions say they have a plan for closing the digital rural divide, and expanding access to TV white spaces is a big part of it. In announcing a ‘To and Through Anchors’ branded strategy, the Schools, Health, and Libraries Broadband Coalition says that it would cost between $13 and $19 billion to connect every anchor institutions—schools, libraries, community centers—in the country (excluding Alaska) with fiber, which in turn could help connect the vast majority of unserved and underserved rural communities to high-speed broadband.”

Civil rights pioneer, Georgia congressman, and award-winning author John Lewis will continue his March series of graphic novels with a new multipart book called Run. The series will tell the next chapter of civil rights history, including Lewis’s leadership of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Lewis will team up again with March coauthor Andrew Aydin, and the series will feature a new artist, Afua Richardson, as well as contributions from original artist Nate Powell. The first book will be available August 18 from Abrams ComicArts.

Lynsay WIlliams writes: “For university libraries, it can sometimes be difficult to get students—especially new students—comfortable with coming into the library and engaging with library staff. We asked some academic librarians how they get creative with their student outreach to welcome students to campus and to the library.”

Sarah Laskow writes: “On any given day, from her home on the Isle of Man, Linda Watson might be reading a handwritten letter from one Confederate soldier to another, or a list of convicts transported to Australia. Or perhaps she is reading a will, a brief from a long-forgotten legal case, an original Jane Austen manuscript. Whatever is in them, these documents made their way to her because they have one thing in common: They are close to impossible to read.”

Kate MacMillan writes: “Looking at the Oxford Dictionary’s shortlist for 2017 word of the year, I was startled by the words white fragility. According to the Oxford Dictionary Blog, white fragility is ‘a mass noun that describes the discomfort and defensiveness on the part of a white person when confronted about racial inequality and injustice.’ It is a contentious word and one that some in the school library struggle with in dealing with their student populations.”